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Baker rests some regulars for finale vs. Crew

Baker rests some regulars for finale vs. Crew

MILWAUKEE -- Scott Rolen, Ryan Hanigan and Zack Cozart all were on the bench for Wednesday's finale with the Brewers in Milwaukee.

Manager Dusty Baker said he wanted to make sure he rested some of his regulars so they were ready for the stretch run of the season.

"It's kind of like running this race, and if you make your kick too early, you run out of gas," Baker said. "You can put your guys in the ground and they'll never return. So you've got to run a strategic race, which we're trying to do."

Baker said with the playoffs, his team could be playing into late October.

"I know how to run this race," he said. "If you look at my teams that won, look at my record in the last month of the season on winning teams. We've always done very well, partly because of the personnel and partly because of how we program them with energy levels.

"I stress to the guys about eating, living right, drinking water," he said. "When to go out and when to make sure to go to bed. You can just grind, grind, grind and you could go crazy mentally."